Coronado

Coronado Beach faces southwest and gets a mix of southern and western swell. The width of the beach and the surf both change with the tide, and at low tide the sand flat is huge and easy to walk. For a sunset photo with the Hotel del Coronado in the foreground, find an evening low on the San Diego tide chart: a lower tide leaves more wet sand to reflect the sky.

Coronado is a small peninsula city across San Diego Bay from downtown, joined to San Diego by the curve of the Coronado Bridge. It has wide streets, easy cycling and a large military presence, and its western edge faces the open Pacific.

Coronado Beach was ranked the best beach in America in 2012 by Dr. Beach (Stephen Leatherman). Flecks of mica give the sand a gold shimmer, and the red-roofed Victorian towers of the Hotel del Coronado, a National Historic Landmark on the shoreline since 1888, stand beside it.

Where to go:

• Orange Avenue — Coronado's main street, an easy walk from downtown to the Hotel del past boutiques and ice cream shops.
• Coronado Ferry Landing — the ferry to downtown San Diego, with waterfront restaurants and views back across the bay.
• Tidelands Park — a bayfront park on the east side, looking at the Coronado Bridge and the San Diego skyline.
• Silver Strand State Beach (nearby) — a quieter beach on the ocean side of the Silver Strand, used by families and kayakers.
• Coronado Cays (nearby) — residential waterways where people paddleboard and kayak on calm bay water.